Recent Stories: Film Festival

Saturday's foul weather didn't deter filmmakers and filmgoers from a festive brunch at c/o the Maidstone, which serves as the headquarters for the Hamptons International Film Festival. Mimosas, bloody marys, and passed hors d'oeuvres helped warm up a happy crowd.

"Charlie's Country" is the third collaboration between David Gulpilil, an Australian Aboriginal actor, and Rolf de Heer, a Dutch-born director who lives in Australia. Mr. Gulpilil plays the title character, who lives in a Northern Territory Aboriginal community where white laws have encroached and undermined the traditional ways of life.

The Hamptons International Film Festival's official kickoff took place at Guild Hall Thursday night with a screening of Theodore Melfi's "St. Vincent" starring Melissa McCarthy as newly single mother who must leave her 12-year-old son (Jaeden Lieberher) in the care of her curmudgeonly new neighbor, played by Bill Murray, while she works.

The Hanptons International Film Festival brought not just films but parties, tributes, panels, roundtables, awards, and chats both before and after screenings. Here are jus a few of the many, many moments that made up the film festival this weekend.

The Hamptons International Film Festival announced their annual awards Monday morning at the East Hampton Presbyterian Church.

The festival’s Audience Awards went to Stephen Frears’s “Philomena,” a drama starring Dame Judi Dench, and “Desert Runners,” Jennifer Steinman’s documentary about the 4 Deserts Race Series of 150-mile ultramarathons. Irene Taylor Brodsky’s “One Last Hug (…And a Few Smooches): Three Days at Grief Camp” won the Audience Award for Best Short.

On Sunday, Bruce Dern and Will Forte, the stars of Alexander Payne's new film "Nebraska," offered an early appetizer to a later Conversation series discussion after the 12:30 p.m. screening of the film at Guild Hall.

Alexander Payne, the movie's director, shot the film in black and white and Mr. Dern said that was because of the bleak terrain and hard life most people lead there. "People don't leave, but they have a stoicism and honesty about them. If you start B.S.ing them they know it."

Helena Bonham Carter took the stage and the hot seat at Bay Street Theatre on Saturday to tell the New York Daily News film critic Joe Neumaier what it's like to go to monkey school and having to audition for Stephen Sondheim even though she couldn't sing. The talk was part of the Hamptons International Film Festival's Conversation series.

A surprised and appreciative capacity audience greeted the filmmaker Costa-Gavras as he introduced his film "Capital" at a Friday afternoon screeing in East Hampton. Although the festival had little advance notice, they were able to put together a brief clip reel of the director's films such as "Z," "Missing," "Betrayed," "State of Siege," and "Amen" and interview him about his previous work and the current movie.

On Friday, the Hamptons Internationa Film Festival was already in full swing on its first full day of activities. Whether it was discussions, screenings, or parties filmmakers, stars, and audiences were all over East Hampton Village and the surrounding area taking in the events and discussing them over snacks and drinks all over town.

Ralph Fiennes came to the Hamptons International Film Festival on Friday to discuss his film "The Invisible Woman," based on a book by Claire Tomalin about Ellen Ternan, a woman believed to have had a long affair with Charles Dickens sometime after they met in 1857, when she was very young and who reinvented herself after he died in 1870 to live a normal life.

The Hamptons International Film Festival officially kicked off with a screening of "Kill Your Darlings," John Krokidas's film about Allen Ginsberg's first year at Columbia University and the real life person who brought him together with Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs in New York City just when World War II was nearing its end.

Filmed in Bellport over a period of 18 days for $700,000, "The Maid's Room" has the look of an expensive Hollywood production. “We did everything we could to make a local film, but not a small film,” says Michael Walker, its director.

The following is excerpted from Laura Donnelly's restaurant review in this week's Star. More ideas for meals on the go can be found in the Star's Restaurant Guide: easthamptonstar.com/restaurants.

It's Columbus Day weekend AND the Hamptons International Film Festival is on the East End so I know all of you ladies and gentlemen and black-clad cinephiles want to know where to eat. With movies being shown in 6 locations from Southampton to Montauk your dining options are plentiful.

The Hamptons International Film Festival will open Thursday with a screening of "Kill Your Darlings," a film about the meeting of Allen Ginsberg, Lucien Carr, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs when Ginsberg was at Columbia University, at Guild Hall.

An invitation-only VIP reception will precede the showing and the festival's opening night party will follow at East Hampton Point.

The Hamptons International Film Festival announced this week that Will Forte, who stars as Bruce Dern's son in the new Alexander Payne film "Nebraska," will join Mr. Dern in a talk on Sunday at Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor. The talk will be moderated by Josh Rothkopf, the senior film writer for "Time Out New York."

David Chase, the creator of "The Sopranos" HBO series and Steven Van Zandt, who played Silvio on that show were collaborators on "Not Fade Away," the closing night film of the Hamptons Film Festival, screened on Sunday night.

Stevie Nicks charmed a capacity audience at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor on Sunday, where she discussed her 2011 album, "In Your Dreams," the making of which is depicted in "In Your Dreams - Stevie Nicks," which premiered at the Sag Harbor Cinema following her talk.

Friday and Saturday's Hamptons International Film Festival events brought out crowds of young and old as attendees tried to balance the gorgeous fall weather with a full plate of screenings, talks, panels, parties, and other activities. Surprise guests, like Meryl Streep, joined scheduled speakers such as Stevie Nicks, Richard Gere, and Alan Cumming at various festival events.
Photos by Morgan McGivern.

Saturday night at Guild Hall was mobbed as scores of fans waited to get in to see the Hamptons International Film Festival's Conversation with Richard Gere. Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Gere discussed some of his favorite directors such as Terrance Malick and Rob Marshall, his son's baseball game that day, and why he prefers the East Coast to Los Angeles. While Mr. Baldwin attempted to have Mr. Gere to dish on some of his co-stars, he demurred.

If you are strolling around East Hampton Village this weekend between films or shopping, look for Dan Roe, a young independent filmmaker who is holding a bake sale to raise money for his film. His goal is to complete his film “Weenie” and enter it into next year’s festival.

Lily Henderson’s “Dying and Dinner Parties” is showing Saturday night at 5:30 p.m. at the East Hampton Theater.
The East Hampton resident’s six-minute short looks at the life of a woman who has volunteer at a hospice facility for 10 years and must now face her own death, a journey “she confronts with poise, and quite a bit of clarity,” according to the film notes.

Liz Garbus, the director of "Love, Marilyn," said at her Hamptons International Film Festival opening at Guild Hall in East Hampton Thursday night that personal letters, poems, and journal entries found in a closet led her to appreciate Marilyn Monroe's talent and that she wanted to "bring them to life with feeling and entertainment." The director thought this best accomplished with actors using a "lens of their own to interpret" her words, she said.